, 1887-07-02
TRYING TO CAPTURE cAaLorrA.
A Mexican Generals Story of Bis At
tempt to Take tho Empress PrIsone-.

A Mexican Generals Story of His At
tempt to Take the Empress Prisone-.
In 1873 l was coming from the City Of
Mexico TO FL Pnso, Tex, and by chance l
met Gen. Aurellano, who is now q men,
Der of the national congress in the City
of Mexico. We began to talk of the inn
provemants of the country and on other
topics. When we passed the City Of
Queretaro, where Macmillan was made
prisoner, l mentioned the incident about
the Empress Carlotta in 1866, and he
+. said: YES, it was l who made the at
tempt TO capture her." ''Wil you ex-
plain to me how it was, and what your
intentions were, general2" Yes" he
answered. you may remember, he
said, .'the decree of Oct. 8, 1865. issued
by Macmillan and his ministers, and
which read: Every Mexican caught with
n weapon in his hands shall be consid-
cred as a bandit and shall be executed
Immediately 1t is said that Macmillan
himself was opposed to this decree, but,
influenced by Bazaine and the Empress
Carlotta, was compelled to issue ii. Now,
by this merciless law we lost the bravest
of our soldiers and the best of our generals.
'In May of 1866 the well known and
perhaps tho best of our gucrrilleros,
Nicolas Romero, was taken prisoner in
Jalisco and brought to the City of
Mexico, where, together with others, he
was to be shot on the 9th of June. l had
u great regard for this man, brave in bat
tie and merciful with his prisoners, and I
resolved, at the risk Of my life, to w
him. / was commanding 1000 men; my
headquarters was the Mount of San Juan,
which you know is not far from the
capital; l chose Eixty of my bravest men,
and, favored by the darkness of the night
of the 9th of June, l led them through
the forests of the road connecting the
castle of Chapultepec with the capital; 1
hid my men and myself in a small river
along the road; l knew the empress had
to pass between the hours of @ and Z in
the morning, as she was accustomed to
take q ride every morning at that hour
from the city to the castle. My intention
was to capture her, and by dong that l
was sure to rescue my great friend. 1
also knew she had with her ten or twelve
men, but 1 had six times that number,
and what gave me confidence was they
did not expect such an attack.
Il waited. The hour came, and I
said to my soldiers: Don't hurt the
woman OIL o white horse, but try to cap
ture her. Just then Charlotte came in
sight, and with the cry to my men,
For Mexicol' we sprang to the bed of
the road, and q hand in hand struggle
at nee began. The empress, to my sur
prise, instead of fleeing toward the castle,
Us l expected she would, turned to the
city. l followed her closely-very closely.
l was about to catch the tail of her
horse, but by that time 1 was at the gate
Of the city, and before 200 or more
French soldiers, who were thunderstruck
at the sight of their empress passing like
lightning between them. The captain
commanding this body of soldiers was
B%oulanger! l took advantage of their
surprise and returned to my men. The
empress owed her life to the beautiful
mare. Indeed, that mare beat my horse
and saved her mistress When l reached
the place where my men were, all the
French soldiers with the exception of
one, the captain, were lying on the road,
some killed, others wounded, and a
woman was lying also on a zarape of
one Of my soldiers. 1 told the captain to
take care of his companions and the
woman, and ordered my soldiers to re-
treat to the Mount Of San Juan. 1 was
unsuccessful, but even now 1 feel con-
scious of having done a. in my power to
rescue a dear friend"
The general was so affected that l did
not press the subject any further
c. Olivares in Cincinnati Commercial
Gazette